Betty Carr: “I have lived in Fort Bragg most of my life, but as a child we moved often and I went to many different schools. Only one of my five children was born elsewhere in California and all of them graduated from Fort Bragg High. I worked as a teacher’s aide at Redwood School for twenty-one years. I’ve been a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West for sixty years and I’ve been active in our Historical Society since it was organized in 1999. I have an avid interest in local history.”

Jay Correia supervises the Registration Unit at the Office of Historic Preservation. In that position he oversees the state’s four historic registration programs and coordinates the activities of the State Historical Resources Commission. Prior to this, he worked as a Historian with State Parks where he developed and helped to manage projects to ensure that they met the Secretary of the Interior’s standards. He is most proud of his work on the Locke Boarding House, significant for its association with the Japanese in California, and the Leland Stanford Mansion in Sacramento. Before his promotion to State Historian, Jay worked at the State Capitol Museum and the California State Archives.

David Foucheaux is the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society, which operates the Guest House Museum in Fort Bragg. “I was born in Fort Bragg and am a 5th generation Mendocino Coast native and live in a house that was built by my great great grandfather. I have always been fascinated with local history and the thrill of the hunt in researching our local history and what you can find about the past in our little corner of the world and its connection to the history of our state and country.”

Derek Hoyle is a FBMCHS board member, a City Planning Commissioner, Photographer, Ceramic and Textile Artist, and a Broadcaster by profession. He has lived in the historic downtown Fort Bragg area for 12 years, and has a keen interest in sharing the local history of our wonderful small town.

Marianne Hurley is a district historian who has worked for California State Parks since 2001, after transferring from Caltrans where she was an environmental planner (architectural historian) with District 4 in Oakland. Her field work draws on her background and expertise in American architectural history and historic preservation, the subject areas of her graduate degree from the University of Oregon (M.A., 1998). In addition to private consultation work, she also worked for a preservation architecture firm in San Francisco where she gained valuable experience surveying and researching historic structures.

With an office in Petaluma, her responsibilities include the oversight and preservation planning for historic properties in 32 parks. Geographically, these parks range from Fort Ross in Sonoma County to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay and Robert Lewis Stevenson in Napa County to Mount Diablo in East Contra Costa. Currently she is the project manager for the stabilization of the John Marsh House in Brentwood. Additional responsibilities include oversight for a cultural landscape study at the Vallejo Home in Sonoma, a condition assessment of the adobe at Olompali State Historic Park, and documentation and evaluation of the interiors at Officers’ Row on Angel Island. Professional affiliations include the Society of Architectural Historians, Vernacular Architecture Forum, and the Association for Preservation Technology. Marianne has also contributed several chapters of a soon-to-be published guide to architecture in the nine Bay Area counties.

Jary Stavely: Jary Stavely has been in choruses, musical theater, and opera on the Coast for the past 35 years. Some of his performances have included singing in “Pizza with Mushrooms”, “Secret Marriage”, in “Jewish Humor from Oy to Vey”, and more. He has had lead roles in Opera Fresca’s “Gianni Schicchi” and in “Madame Butterfly”. For the Mendocino Music Festival’s “Girl of the Golden West”, he was the miner “Happy”. He is a square dance and contra dance caller, and he met his wife Patricia at the Mendocino Woodlands Folk Dance Camp. Jary recently retired after a long career as an elementary teacher with the Mendocino Unified School District. Heritage Days is honored to have Jary sing selections of “Classic Railroad Songs from Smithsonian Folkways” at the Guest House Museum on Saturday, May 21 at 2 pm.

Denise Stenberg: “I am a local, born in the Grey Whale Inn, and a retired teacher. I have been active the Fort Bragg Mendocino Coast Historical Society since it was organized in 1999 with the mission to operate the Guest House Museum on lease from the City of Fort Bragg. My children grew up here and my grandsons all live here. In the College of the Redwoods Creative Writing class, over several years, I wrote the story of Glen Blair, and now it is a published work, Glen Blair–The End of the Line.”

Mike Stenberg: “I graduated from Fort Bragg High in 1970 and the College of the Redwoods two years later. My wife, Sharlene, and I have been married thirty years and raised our two daughters here. I worked for the lumber company before settling into the auto repair business thirty-five years ago.”

“My main interests are my church and history, both very community-oriented. The Fort Bragg Mendocino Coast Historical Society had been an exciting and fun group to work with as we peel back the layers of local history. I’ve been doing this now for ten years and see no reason to stop.”